Serving tool



9 H. KITSELMAN 2,567,907 SERVING TOOL Filed Feb. 12, 1945 INV EN TOR. 117m? Y L. K/Tsn Mm;

Patented Sept. 11, 1951 'Harry L. 'Kitselman, Muncie, Ind., assignor to Indiana. Steel .& Wire Company, Muncie, Ind.,

a corporation of Indiana Application February 12, 19.45, Serial No. 577,503

4 Claims.

It is the object of my invention to produce a serving tool which can be simply and economically manufactured and eilectively used in serving joints in wire cables or the like.

In carrying out my invention I employ a rigid rod or wire bent at one end into a U-shaped-hook to receive the cableswhich are to be served. The legs of the hook are desirably of unequal length, the shorter leg being joined to the body of the tool. Such tool-body lies in a plane normal to the parallel legs of the hook and is desirably disposed in such plane at an angle to the plane of the hook. For use with the tool I employ a singlelayer coil of wrapping wire having an internal diameter slightly larger than the stock of which the tool is formed.

T aeeqi pan in drawing illustrates my int on! Fi is. a. planview of the tool; Fig. 2 i a id evation of the tool; Fig. 3 is a perspecthis view illustrating the tool in use in forming an eye on. enable; and Fig.4 is an elevation of a 6011 wrappin wire for usewith my tool.

As will be clear. from the. drawing, thetool is formed of a length of circular rod or wire bent into a U-shape at one end to provide parallel legs I0 and II joined by an intermediate curved leg 12. The leg H is shorter than the leg l0 and joins the straight body l3 of the tool through a bend it. Preferably, the body l3 lies in a plane generally normal to the legs l0 and II, as will be clear from Fig. 1, while the leg II is twisted so that the body of the tool will be disposed at an angle to the common plane of the legs I!) and I I, as indicated in Fig. 2. The spacing between the legs H) and II is somewhat greater than necessary to permit the entry between them of the cables or other articles to be served.

The supply of wrapping wire used in association with my tool is in the form of a single-layer, helically wound coil I5. As initially formed, the wire of this coil desirably extends tangentially from one end of the coil for a distance as indicated at It. The internal diameter of the coil I5 is slightly greater than the diameter of the material from which the tool is formed so that the coil will have a loose sliding fit on the rod. The coil should not fit the rod too tightly for if it does it might collapse and seize the rod under the influence of the tongue it transmits.

When the tool is to be used, a supply-coil l5-is slipped over the outer end of the tool-body I3, that end of the coil from which the wire-stretch #5 extends being applied to the tool-body first. The coil is slipped down the handle-body until its inner end passes around the bend l4; and the apply a wrap, the cables I! or other articles to be served are placed between the two legs- 10 and I l of the hook at the end of the tool, and the projecting wire-stretch I6 is secured to the cables in any convenient Way. Then, with the tool-body l3 disposed generally normal to the cables, the tool is rotated about the cables in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3-. As the tool is thus rotated, wire feeds from the supply coil [5 and is wrapped about the cables, the supply-coil rotating on the tool.

The depth of the hook lfl l l-"l2 as measured from the projected axis of the body portion I3 of the tool should be greater than the diameter of the object being servedso that with such object seated in the hook the wrap wire will leave the tool in a direction such that/the tension within itwill tend to draw the coil [5 along the body 13 and around the bend I 4.

The tightness of the wrap produced by my serv ing tool depends chiefly upon two factors namely; the diameter" of the supply" coil and the radius of the bend M. In passing from the supply coil to the wrap the wire is straightened from the bent condition it occupies in the supply coil, and the effort required to straighten it will vary in a sense opposite to that of the diameter of the supply coil. Therefore, by making the supply coil of relatively small diameter I am enabled to insure a substantial tension in the wire applied to the article being served.

As the feeding of wire to the Wrap is accompanied by rotation of the supply coil on the toolbody I3, friction between the supply coil and toolbody will tend to increase tension in the wire. The fact that the supply coil is elastically deformed by reason of its passage around the bend I 4 of the tool insures the existence of substantial friction opposing coil-rotation. I have found that the effect of such friction in creating or increasing tension in the wire is dependent upon the curvature of the bend M; a sharp bend increasing tension and vice versa.

For most purposes, satisfactory tightness of the wrap will be provided if the supply coil has an external diameter no greater than ten times the diameter of the wire composing it and if the bend M has a radius, measured at the axis of the rod, of about one and one-half to two times the diameter of the rod.

It will be clear from Fig. 3 that tension in the wire passing from the supply-coil l5 to the wrap tends to rotate the tool about an axis parallel to the legs I 0-! l and that this tendency is resisted by contact of the two legs with opposite sides of the cable-pair being served. The tool is so proportioned that with the legs l and l I drawn into contact with opposite sides of the cable-pair by tension in the wire leaving the supply coil the tool-body l3 will occupy a position generally normal to the cable-pair. With the tool so proportioned, practically no effort on the part of the operator is necessary to secure a tight wrap on the cables being served. In other words, the tool automatically tends to assume a position such that the successive turns of the wrap will be in contact with each other.

I claim as my invention:

1. A serving tool, comprising a round rod having a straight body portion and bent at one end to provide a generally U-shaped hook adapted to receive an article to be served and having two generally parallel legs, said body portion lying approximately in a plane normal to the two legs of said hook and at an angle to the common plane of said legs, said body portion joining the adjacent leg of the hook through a smooth bend, whereby a helically wound coil of wrap-forming wire only slightly larger than said rod may be placed over the body portion and slid therealong to a position in which it extends around said bend and on to the adjacent leg of said hook.

2. A serving tool, comprising a round rod having a straight body portion and bent at one end to provide a generally U-shaped hook adapted to receive an article to be served and having two generally parallel legs, said body portion lying approximately in a plane normal to the two legs of said hook, said body portion joining the adjacent leg of the hook through a smooth bend, whereby a helically wound coil of wrap-forming wire only slightly larger than said rod may be placed over the body portion and slid therealong to a position in which it extends around said bend-and on to the adjacent leg of said hook.

3. In a serving means for securing together a plurality of elongated articles in juxtaposed relation, a single-layer, helically wound coil of wire from one end. of which there projects a generally straight stretch of wire adapted to be secured to said articles, the external diameter of said coil being less than ten times the diameter of the wire composing it, an elongated support disposed within and frictionally engaging said coil, said support being bent within the axial limits of the coil and at a point adjacent that end of the coil from which said straight stretch of wire projects to provide increased friction opposing rotation of the coil on the support, said support being provided beyond such coil-end with a hook adapted to receive the articles to be served.

4. In a serving means for securing together a pluralityoij elongated articles in juxtaposed rela: tion, a single-layer, helically wound coil of wire from one end of which there projects a generally straight stretch of wire adapted to be secured to said articles, an elongated support disposed within and frictionally engaging said coil, said support being bent within the axial limits of the coil and at a point adjacent that end of the coil from which said straight stretch of wire projects to provide increased friction opposing rotation of the coil on the support, said support being provided beyond such coil-end with a hook adapted to receive the articles to be served.

HARRY L. KITSELMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 275,161 Deland Apr. 3, 1883 464,279 Fraser Dec. 1, 1891 465,894 Stone Dec. 29, 1891 867,296 Park Oct. 1, 1907 901,210 Tarrant Oct. 13, 1908 1,293,151 Madill Feb. 4, 1919 2,371,686 Gaulke Mar. 20, 1945 

